Search on just a few files

[carycrusiau]

Hello,

 

I have hundreds of Illustrator files in my works folder. I would like to create a workflow to do a search but only on a few of these files. How can I do that?

 

TIA

[Vero]

Hello,

 

I have hundreds of Illustrator files in my works folder. I would like to create a workflow to do a search but only on a few of these files. How can I do that?

 

TIA

 

Are you looking to search in specific folders or for specific file types only? Sounds like a File Filter workflow will be ideal for you.

 

Have a look at my tutorial, which creates a file filter workflow for images (jpg, gif, etc) and follow the steps, replacing the file type with the Illustrator file type, and the search scope with the specific folders you need.

 

http://blog.alfredapp.com/2014/04/24/tutorial-creating-an-alfred-workflow-without-a-single-line-of-code/

 

If you have any issues along the way, don't hesitate to post here and I'll help you out

 

Cheers,

Vero

[carycrusiau]

Hi Vero,

 

Thanks for your quick reply. I know how to create File Filter workflows and, currently, I use several of them. My problem here is that if I try to search Illustrator files in my works folder, Alfred returns hundreds of files including a lot of duplicates or different versions. For examples, if a search for "cat", Alfred returns "cat_001.ai", "cat_002.ai", "cat_003.ai", "cat_dog_001.ai", "cat_dog_002.ai", "cat_dog_003.ai"… I wish I could run my search on some of these files only. As if I was selecting some of them and putting them in a specific folder. But, unfortunately, I can not move these files.

 

Regards,

Cary

[Vero]

Hi Vero,

 

Thanks for your quick reply. I know how to create File Filter workflows and, currently, I use several of them. My problem here is that if I try to search Illustrator files in my works folder, Alfred returns hundreds of files including a lot of duplicates or different versions. For examples, if a search for "cat", Alfred returns "cat_001.ai", "cat_002.ai", "cat_003.ai", "cat_dog_001.ai", "cat_dog_002.ai", "cat_dog_003.ai"… I wish I could run my search on some of these files only. As if I was selecting some of them and putting them in a specific folder. But, unfortunately, I can not move these files.

 

Regards,

Cary

 

If you're on OS X Yosemite, you could tag the files and do a tag-based search? Type "tags" in Alfred followed by the tag you've set on those files

[carycrusiau]

Hi Vero,

 

Seems to be a nice idea. I've never really used tags. I will take a look into them.

 

Thanks again!

Cary

[carycrusiau]

Hi again,

 

I tested and this is nearly perfect. One more question: is there a way to set a hotkey to show all the files with a certain tag?

 

Regards,

Cary

[Vero]

Hi again,

 

I tested and this is nearly perfect. One more question: is there a way to set a hotkey to show all the files with a certain tag?

 

Regards,

Cary

 

Sure, create a workflow with only a hotkey trigger. Set the hotkey you want, the action to "Show Alfred" and the text argument to "tags" followed by the name of the tag you're using for those files, let's say they're tagged "alfred". 

 

You'll then be able to use that hotkey to pop up Alfred with "tags alfred", which will immediately show the relevant results

[carycrusiau]

Wow! Thanks again Vero! This is just PERFECT now!

 

Have a nice day,

Cary